200 elderly white Americans living independently will be compared with 50 unable to live on their own. All will have yearly physical and laboratory examinations, computerized-tomographic (CT) studies of brain atrophy, the Older Americans Resources and Services (OARS) questionnaire, psychological tests, and a psychiatric interview. This year interviewers were trained, numerous agencies were contacted, computer data-handling protocols were established, and the first 100 subjects were enrolled. Preliminary data showed no differences between groups with normal CT scans and those with minimal or even moderate-to-advanced brain atrophy on any of the psychological tests sensitive to organic brain syndromes in younger persons. On the OARS examination the Mental Health (M) Scale did separate these groups: subjects with moderate-to-advanced atrophy were significantly more impaired (p .025) than either the normal or minimal-atrophy groups. A detailed analysis of the psychological tests, physical and laboratory data, and the specific items comprising the OARS mental health scale is now underway. It is hoped that longitudinal analyses of the physical, psychological, and social correlates of the ability of the elderly to live independently will aid in predicting, augmenting, and supporting this capacity in the future.